


From the Heart

by JessicaPendragon



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 08:18:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6321985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaPendragon/pseuds/JessicaPendragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellana goes to the wrong person to learn about <s>Valentine's Day</s> Heart Day customs.</p><p> </p><p>  <a href="http://jessicapendragon.tumblr.com/post/139207874354/from-the-heart">Tumblr Link</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	From the Heart

Cullen opens the wooden box for what must be the seventh time since waking. Nestled inside is a gift for Ellana. It is nothing extravagant but something practical, useful for when she is out in the field. It won’t attract attention like a sweet smelling perfume or glint in the sun like a fancy bauble. It will have many more uses than a box of chocolates and last longer than a bushel of roses. She will appreciate its simple yet heartfelt meaning. But is it too simple for such an auspicious holiday? Should he have gotten her something more, well, _more_ , for their first holiday together?

He doubts himself for the twelfth time.

No. Ellana is not for grandeur or pomp. She loves her hands in the dirt and her head in the trees. She likes patterns but simple cloth, a cotton dress in different colors instead of sapphire silk. He’s witnessed her chewing on bark quite contently and turn her nose up at decadent desserts. She’ll love it, he’s sure of it. Or she’ll at least pretend she does. With a groan, he drops his head into a hand. He’ll never know either way if he can’t muster the courage to actually give it to her. 

As if summoned, the main door to his tower swings open and sees Ellana running through. Cullen slams the lid of the box closed, looking like a cookie thief caught in the kitchen, but his worries slip away when he notices that she seems in a flustered state of her own. “What’s wrong?” he asks as he stands and moves around the desk towards her.

“I…” Her face screws up in a flash of misery. “Oh Cullen, I can’t do it. I’m sorry!”

“Do what?”

“This!” She gestures between them and a rock sinks inside him stomach. Ellana lets out a little gasp when she notices his expression sliding from concern to something on the edge of controlled disappointment. “No, not us! I lied when I said I knew what Valentine’s Day was. I had to go ask and…and…Cullen, it’s a terrible holiday!”

Well, he’s not one to argue. Over the years it seems to have gotten out of control with every market covered in red and pink merchandise with outrageous price tags and little meaning. Only once has he faced it with such horror as Ellana is displaying now, however. He can remember how his eleven year old self felt close to shattering apart standing outside a rosy cheeked neighbor’s house with a bouquet in hand, but he was never disgusting about it like she is.

“Sera told me it’s customary to give people hearts. Hearts, Cullen! She told me any old animal’s would do when I asked, but the best are from tough ones to show how much we care or from animals we cherish. Some people even bring back human hearts! It’s…it’s-are you _laughing_ at me?”

He can’t help it. Halfway through her explanation laughter bubbles up his throat as realization dawns. Cullen tries to bury it beneath a cough as her eyebrows turn down, eyes frosting over with a building storm. “I think you’ve been led astray, Ella.”

A few minutes are spent explaining the real traditions of the holiday. Ellana’s face changes from relief to simmering rage again that he’s thankful is no longer directed at him. She rattles off something in Elvhen, long strings that are too advanced for his apprentice’s tongue, but he understands the foreboding promise in every syllable well enough.

Her tirade ends with a sigh. “When will I learn? You must think I’m ridiculous for believing her.”

He reaches up to smooth away the sudden blossom of embarrassment on her cheek. The warmth spreads into his chest as she wraps her arms around him in kind and hides her face from sight. “Not in the slightest. I know our customs are still strange to you. Sera was wrong to take advantage, again.”

They hold each other and enjoy this sliver of quiet contentment while Skyhold still bustles loud around them, and Cullen knows if there’s any gift he wants it’s to have endless moments like this where he can hold her, love her. When Ellana tips her head back up to look at him he is grateful to see a smile upon her lips again- although this one appears suspiciously sly. “So…I shouldn’t expect a heart in that little box you’ve been squirreling away for a week?” 

“I…I-” She laughs at the shock on his face, tempering her teasing with a few quick kisses to his chin, and he is caught up in her easy mirth. All his worrying seems foolish now and without a care he captures her lips and feels her heartbeat skip beneath his fingers, feels his own dance in time with the love between them. “No. You already have mine.”


End file.
